Related papers: Region crossing change is an unknotting operation
We show that the following unlinking strategy does not always yield an optimal sequence of crossing changes: first split the link with the minimal number of crossing changes, and then unknot the resulting components.
Knot diagrams are among the most common visual tools in topology. Computer programs now make it possible to draw, manipulate and render them digitally, which proves to be useful in knot theory teaching and research. Still, an openly…
In this paper, we consider domino tilings of regions of the form $\mathcal{D} \times [0,n]$, where $\mathcal{D}$ is a simply connected planar region and $n \in \mathbb{N}$. It turns out that, in nontrivial examples, the set of such tilings…
Given any oriented link diagram, one can construct knot invariants using skein relations. Usually such a skein relation contains three or four terms. In this paper, the author introduces several new ways to smooth a crossings, and uses a…
A knot is a closed loop in space without self-intersection. Two knots are equivalent if there is a self homeomorphism of space bringing one onto the other. An arc presentation is an embedding of a knot in the union of finitely many half…
We take a close look at a classical magic trick performed with a string, where a trivial knot is seemingly isotoped into a trefoil, and generalize it to a family of magic tricks for transforming the unknot into other knots. We encode such a…
The presence of slipknots in configurations of proteins and DNA has been shown to affect their functionality, or alter it entirely. Historically, polymers are modeled as polygonal chains in space. As an alternative to space curves, we…
It is known that algebraically split links (links with vanishing pairwise linking number) can be transformed into the trivial link by a series of local moves on the link diagram called delta-moves; we define the delta-unlinking number to be…
We offer a pedestrian level review of the wall-crossing invariants. The story begins from the scattering theory in quantum mechanics where the spectrum reshuffling can be related to permutations of S-matrices. In non-trivial situations,…
We define an invariant of welded virtual knots from each finite crossed module by considering crossed module invariants of ribbon knotted surfaces which are naturally associated with them. We elucidate that the invariants obtained are non…
The combinatorial approach to knot theory treats knots as diagrams modulo Reidemeister moves. Many constructions of knot invariants (e.g., index polynomials, quandle colorings, etc.) use elements of diagrams such as arcs and crossings by…
Site-specific recombination is an enzymatic process where two sites of precise sequence and orientation along a circle come together, are cleaved, and the ends are recombined. Site-specific recombination on a knotted substrate produces…
Phylogenetic networks are a generalization of phylogenetic trees that are used to represent reticulate evolution. Unrooted phylogenetic networks form a special class of such networks, which naturally generalize unrooted phylogenetic trees.…
In this paper, we study knot diagrams for which the underlying graph has treewidth two. We give a linear time algorithm for the following problem: given a knot diagram of treewidth two, does it represent the unknot? We also show that for a…
We provide an algorithm to determine whether a link L admits a crossing change that turns it into a split link, under some fairly mild hypotheses on L. The algorithm also provides a complete list of all such crossing changes. It can…
We discuss an "extrinsic" property of knots in a 3-subspace of the 3-sphere $S^3$ to characterize how the subspace is embedded in $S^3$. Specifically, we show that every knot in a subspace of the 3-sphere is transient if and only if the…
The warping matrix has been defined for knot projections and knot diagrams by using warping degrees. In particular, the warping matrix of a knot diagram represents the knot diagram uniquely. In this paper we show that the rank of the…
The warping degree of an oriented knot diagram is the minimal number of crossing changes which are required to obtain a monotone knot diagram from the diagram. The minimal warping degree of a knot is the minimal value of the warping degree…
In this note we use Blanchfield forms to study knots that can be turned into an unknot using a single $\overline{t}_{2k}$ move.
We present a computational study of finite-time mixing of a line segment by cutting and shuffling. A family of one-dimensional interval exchange transformations is constructed as a model system in which to study these types of mixing…